Censors Board Reduces Licensing Fees For Film Distribution

THE National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) has reduced the fees payable by film distributors in a move aimed at breathing a new life into its New Distribution and Exhibition Framework (NDEF). The cheering piece of news was announced recently to stakeholders by the Acting Director General of the board, Ms Patricia Bala in a meeting convened in Lagos to retool the NDEF.

The fees, the Acting DG stated, apply to all categories of licenses and take immediate effect. Specifically, Bala noted that National Distributors shall henceforth pay a license fee of N200,000.00, as against the previous N500,000.00 only, a decrease of 150 per cent. Similarly, Regional Distributors will now cough out only N100,000.00, as against N250,000.00, a 60 percent reduction, while Community Distributors will pay N10,000 from the previous fee of N25,000.00. Bala noted that the board decided to streamline the categories, hence the elimination of state distributors which now dovetails into community distributors.

Bala went further to also announce new license renewal fees as follows: National Distributors, N100,000.00; Regional Distributors N25,000.00 and Community Distributors N10,000.00.

The marketers, who were present at the meeting, commended the board for the right decision taken by drastically reviewing downwards all categories of licenses. But they also implored the board to ensure that their licenses work for them by making the operating environment favourable for film distribution. They tasked the board to attack head on the issue of piracy, which they said had hampered their business.

In her reaction, Bala assured them that the board would not leave any stone unturned in ensuring that the operating environment was made conducive for their business, citing the downward review as a sign of the things to come in the future. She also told the distributors that the board, in concert with Nigerian Film Corporation, Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation and Nigeria Copyright Commission, are partnering to fashion out common ground to look into some of the pressing challenges that had hampered the growth of the film sector.

While responding to questions from the media, Bala categorically noted that the board was not unmindful of the influx of pornographic movies into the country from neighbouring Ghana. She said such indecent movies were never got to the board and so were never censored by the board. She disclosed that plans were afoot to rub minds with Ghanaian film regulators to address the development, adding, “We are very aware that pornography is creeping into our industry. We don’t approve pornography, so any pornographic film you see in the market is illegal. It is an uncensored and unapproved movie”.

According to her, there was a department in the board charged with tracking these pornographic films and confiscating same. The department usually goes out with law enforcement officers such as the police to raid the shops and seize films considered unwholesome for consumption. Bala stated that technology had made tracking pornographic movies difficult because most of them were downloaded from the Internet. She disclosed that the board intended to contact YouTube and other sites to compel them to block such indecent movies from the Nigerian territory.